Beers - Doggy Style!



Hola beer peeps! I’m Moe Pug. I hijacked Beerploma to let all you dog lovers out there know that we pups like to go out for beers too! Well, obviously we are too young to drink (evidently you humans refuse to acknowledge dog years at bars!), but we love getting all cleaned up and going out on the town with our beer lovin’ humans. So, my big brother Maverick and I hit the streets to check out some pawesome dog friendly patios where our mom and pop can get a tasty craft beer.

(Maverick and I hitting the streets!)

First we hit up 612Brew. They have a really pawesome patio with all sorts of different tables, a fountain thingy, and of course great beer! The patio is big enough so we were able to find our own table out of the way a bit from the other peeps. My humans each had a flight of beers. I didn’t know beers could fly! He-he... ok, back to it... All were great beers, but the one problem was that by the time they got to the last beer it was pretty warm. That ain’t the breweries fault though, it was like a gazillion degrees out! Next time, maybe a pint at a time. Or, papa could quit being a sissy and drink faster. Either way this is a great patio to bring us furbuddies to and they have great beers!

(612 Patio)

(612 Flight)

(Maverick on 612's Patio)

(Maverick and Papa at 612)



Next I decided to lead my pack over to Indeed Brewing Co. It was less than a mile walk from 612 with plenty of things for me to pee on along the way. When we got to Indeed’s patio this nice lady brought my brother and I each a bowl of tasty cold water. The bowls even had Indeed’s logo all over them, just like the pint glasses. Nice touch!

(Maverick having a drink at Indeed)



Papa and moms had a special beer at Indeed. It was a Mojito Shenanigans. They infuse Shenanigans, which is their summer ale, with lime juice, pineapple juice, and mint. Pretty refreshing on a hot summer day and a perfect patio beer! This stuff must have been pretty dang good cuz mama wouldn’t shut up about it!

(Mojito Shenanigans at Indeed)

On the way home Pops wouldn’t stop complaining about how hungry he was. So, I took him to The Happy Gnome in Saint Paul to shut him up... He can get a bit cranky if you don’t feed him when he is hungry. They have a really nice patio. In fact this patio was Maverick’s fav of the day, probably cuz papa gave him a french fry for being a good dog all day. The nice lady here gave us a bowl of water too, which was good cuz I did a lot of walking... Aaaand as you can see, I am a bit... well... let’s say plump.

(I needed a little drink in the shade)

The Happy Gnome has 76 craft beers on tap and a bunch in bottles as well! That is freakin huge! The food was tasty as well. Papa ordered poutine with wild game gravy and sweet and sour pork wings to go along with his Hell or High Water Mellon beer. I had one of the fries from the poutine... Dude, they are dang tasty!

(My brother kickin it at the Happy Gnome)

At this point I think we were all ready for a couch and some AC, so we hit Dennis Brothers Liquors in Cottage Grove for some beers to bring back home. The peeps here were really nice to me and Maverick. They gave us head scratches and we each got a cookie! This place has a boat load of top notch beers too. They are a member of Sidewalk Dogs, which is a great site to discover places to bring us pups. Papa made his selections with help from the pawesome staff and we headed home. 

(I wish I had thumbs so I could open the door to Dennis Bros!)

All and all a pretty durn good day for a pug like me! My brother and I got some exercise, some belly rubs, plenty of water, got to pee on all sorts of stuffs, and even got a french fry! And of course ma and pa got some fine craft beers. So next time you decide to go have some beers on a patio on a nice sunny day, don’t forget your furbuddy cuz we love doing that stuffs too!

Moe Pug OUT!!!

http://www.612brew.com/

http://www.indeedbrewing.com/

http://thehappygnome.com/

https://www.facebook.com/DBLINC

http://www.sidewalkdog.com/



Cabin Craft Beer Review: Clown Shoes Genghis Pecan Porter (2013)

For a long time Minnesota was behind the times when it came to Craft Beers.  We had Schell’s, Summit, and a few other rebels, but for the most part we were hunkered down in macro-beer-land.  As such few craft brewers from other states didn't send their wares here.  Sure you had your brave ones like Pyramid, Boulevard, Leinenkugels, and semi-macro/semi-craft Sam Adams, but at the end of the day the most adventurous of that lot was Pyramids Apricot Wheat.  Our craft beer scene was stagnant.  But then in the early 2000s that began to change.  We wanted more, nay we demanded more from our craft beer and if brewery greats like Stone and Yuengling wouldn’t come here, then by golly we’ll brew out own.  Surly introduced us to hopped up IPAs that can match Stone any day, and might even have a bigger cult following!  Schell’s produced Grainbelt Nordeast, a beer very similar in style to Yuengling Original!  If they wouldn’t come to us, dang it someone stepped up to brew it!  Recently I have been seeing a trend on the beer shelves around the Twin Cities.  More and more well-known breweries are starting to penetrate our shelves.  I take this as a sign that we are becoming a well-known Craft Beer Loving State!  In the last year we have added Oskar Blues, Green Flash, and Clown Shoes to our available lines of beer!  It’s exciting to see these brewing legends start to take us craft beer drinkers seriously. 

Recently I got the opportunity to pick up one of the last bottles of 2013 Genghis Pecan from Clown Shoes, out of Ipswich, MA.  I was saving this one for a special occasion, and it ended up at the Cabin with me.  So welcome to Minnesota!  Here’s a review and toast to making a GREAT decision to come here!

 First off the beer poured thick, and had a quick forming foamy brown head.  The head cascaded upwards as it poured into the shaker pint.  The first smell gave off the aroma of light coffee, and almost no hop presence.  I noticed it was dark, I shined a light through it, only a hint of red came out on the other side.  As the head settled down I took the first sip.  It had a medium to thick mouth-feel.  It was smooth with strong roasted coffee notes, and it lingered with a fresh pecan flavor and mellow bitterness.   It was kind of a chilly night, so it was a perfect after dinner beer.  I honestly expected more sweetness out of a beer labeled as "pecan pie porter", but that fact that is was more roasty was not a let down by any stretch of the imagination.  Over all a very tasty beer, and great for after dinner whether you are a fan of coffee or toasted pecans.  If pairing a meal to match with this beer I would pick a slow roasted pork loin, or pan fried mushrooms.

Overall I give this beer **1/2 stars (Excellent)

That's all for this review.  Time to go out and enjoy the lake!  Prost!

Saint Paul Summer Beer Fest - A Whole Lotta Beer!

The Saint Paul Summer Beer Fest was a great event. There were tons of brews, actually over 100 breweries and over 400 beers! Out of all of them, the best one as voted for by fans was Dangerous Man Brewing Company out of Nordeast Mpls. Good job Dangerous Man! They seem to be winning a lot of awards lately, and having had a lot of their beers it makes total sense. Unfortunately, as often happens at this large of an event, I never got to their booth. But, I did have a lot of other great beers. So, let’s get to it!

(Crowd Around Dangerous Man)

Let’s start with one of my favorite breweries, Bent Brewstillery. Last year at this event was where Bent made its debut and gave Dark Fatha to the world. This year Bent brought Dark Fatha that had been aged in rye whiskey barrels. WOW! This beer was awesome! Dark Fatha is a very smooth approachable beer. Barrel aging this beer added depth to it while maintaining the smoothness. There was no boozy bite like lots of barrel aged imperial stouts. But, if you want a bit of a bite they had ghost peppers that you could toss into your glass to spice things up. Bent Brewstillery is doing awesome things. It has been fun to watch them grow and to have seen how their beer has evolved from the beginning till now. Expect more greatness to come from these guys!



(Bent Brewstillery Pourin' The Good Stuff!)

Next up we have one of the newest breweries on the block, Tin Whiskers BrewingCompany. This brewery just recently opened in St. Paul, so I wanted to see what they are doing. I tried the Wheatstone Bridge. This beer is an American style wheat beer made with chamomile and honey. It has an almost chai tea flavor to it. It has ginger and floral notes along with a nice sweetness. It is a refreshing beer with an awesome original flavor. Although I am not sure I could sit down and drink a whole 6 pack of it, it shows how creative brewers can be with beer and makes me think we are going to see some awesome creations from Tin Whiskers going forward.

(Third Street Out Back)

ThirdStreet Brewhouse never fails to bring something tasty to these parties and they didn’t let us down at this fest with Hunny Do. This beer is a wheat beer with honey dew melon. The smell of this beer had a nice melony scent along with a hint of a cinnamon toast crunch, although only the melon flavor stuck around when the beer hits your tongue. It’s crisp, refreshing, and fruity. Thanks for never letting us down, Third Street!

Now let’s hit a couple “unbeers”. First up is Angry Orchard. They brought a hard cider with elderflower. We tried this purely because earlier we were talking with our Norwegian friend about elderflower. And then, BAM, an elderflower cider.... It was meant to be! This cider was sweet, slightly floral, fruity, and light. It was a good drinkable cider and was a great departure from a typical “just apple” hard cider. I know this is a beer blog, but Angry Orchard deserved a little cred for this one for sure!

(Great Music At The Beer Fest)

Our last beer of the day is a shout out to Vicky who writes our blog series Confessions of a Sober Cab; Lift Bridge Brewing Company’s Root Beer. Vicky said it was sweet but not overly sweet nor bitey and was a good mellow root beer. Thanks for bringing something hand crafted for our sober cab, Lift Bridge!  

(Three Marks Means Trouble!)

All in all I had a great time at the Saint Paul Summer Beer Fest. There was more beer than I could ever imagine, the rain stopped right before pulling into the parking lot, and the crowd was fun and festive. Chop Liver knows how to throw a great beer party!

(My Crew And I Havin' Fun!)

Acclivity, the REAL Champagne of Beers!

I am a sucker for sour beers. The acidity, the tartness, the sour... I know they aren’t for everyone, but they sure are for me! So, a group of friends and I headed to Ward 6 for the release of Bent Brewstillery’s new sour beer, Acclivity.

Sours may not show you exactly what beer SHOULD be, but they do show you what beer CAN be. Because of this it made perfect sense for Bent Brewstillery to make a sour. The folks at Bent don’t seem to feel the need to stick to what the “rulebook” says beer should be. Instead they tend to do their own thing to create really good approachable original beers. They did their own thing again with Acclivity, and the results are awesome!

Acclivity is a Rosé Berliner Weisse. It has a pinkish hue to it, which can probably be attributed to the use of beets in this beer. It has a great sour citrus fruit taste along with a great acidity from the Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus used. This beer is very effervescent. It’s not a normal beer type of carbonation, rather much more bubbly. This, along with the use of Gewurztraminer must, gives Acclivity a great almost champagney taste and feel. Absent was the overly funkiness of some sours, which for this beer just increased the drinkability.

We tried Acclivity on its own and with Ward 6’s house made rhubarb and triple berry syrups. It was a nice touch by Ward 6 to make some fruit syrups to allow customers the choice to drink Acclivity in a fairly traditional Berliner Weisse manner. All were very tasty, but in my opinion straight up on its own was the best way to drink this beer.

In short, Acclivity is great! It is very refreshing, crisp, drinkable, and approachable. If you haven’t had a sour yet, start here. If you love sours you should give this one a try. And if you don’t like sours because the ones you tried were all funky, give sours one last try with the REAL champagne of beers, Acclivity!



www.bentbrewstillery.com
www.ward6stpaul.com
www.beerploma.com